Dennis W Evans

A federal jury cleared a Mission Viejo executive of insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, evidently believing defense arguments that the accusations were trumped up by an ex-wife. Dennis W. Evans, 38, was exonerated Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles when the jury rejected claims that he had profited from confidential information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc.--an Irvine firm where Evans was employed as a controller--and Hadson Corp.

A federal jury cleared a Mission Viejo executive of insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, evidently believing defense arguments that the accusations were trumped up by an ex-wife. Dennis W. Evans, 38, was exonerated Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles when the jury rejected claims that he had profited from confidential information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc.--an Irvine firm where Evans was employed as a controller--and Hadson Corp.

A federal jury has cleared a Mission Viejo executive of insider-trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, evidently believing defense arguments that the accusations were trumped up by an ex-wife. Dennis W. Evans, 38, was exonerated Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles when the jury rejected claims that he had profited from confidential information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc.--an Irvine firm where Evans was employed as a controller--and Hadson Corp.

A federal jury has cleared a Mission Viejo executive of insider-trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, evidently believing defense arguments that the accusations were trumped up by an ex-wife. Dennis W. Evans, 38, was exonerated Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles when the jury rejected claims that he had profited from confidential information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc.--an Irvine firm where Evans was employed as a controller--and Hadson Corp.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday accused an Orange County executive of insider trading, alleging that he used confidential information about a pending merger to make an overnight profit of $11,000 in the stock market for himself, his mother-in-law and a friend. Dennis W. Evans of Mission Viejo allegedly carried out a scheme to profit from inside information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc. in Irvine and Hadson Corp. of Oklahoma City, Okla.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday accused a former Ultrasystems executive of insider trading shortly before Hadson Corp. announced that it was buying the Irvine engineering concern in 1987. The executive, Gerald A. Horwitz, consented to give up $1,700 in profits and pay a fine of $1,400, the commission said. Without admitting guilt, Horwitz also agreed not to violate insider trading laws.

In an unusual use of insider trading laws, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges Tuesday against the founder and former chairman of Irvine-based Ultrasystems Inc., accusing him of illegally leaking bad news about the company's earnings to a select group of stock analysts in 1987. The retired executive, Phillip J. Stevens, 62, of Newport Beach, simultaneously agreed to settle the civil charges and pay $126,455 in penalties, without admitting or denying the allegations.

Hot on the trail of inside traders, Richard Chase and his aides unfolded a street map of Brooklyn, N.Y., and began sticking in pins. Chase, the head of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange's surveillance unit, was looking for a pattern. Each pin marked the home address of people who had bought Colt Industries stock options in a flurry of unusual trading just before Colt announced a plan to buy back much of its stock from the public.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday accused an Orange County executive of insider trading, alleging that he used confidential information about a pending merger to make an overnight profit of $11,000 in the stock market for himself, his mother-in-law and a friend. Dennis W. Evans of Mission Viejo allegedly carried out a scheme to profit from inside information about a merger between Ultrasystems Inc. in Irvine and Hadson Corp. of Oklahoma City, Okla.